Mercedarian Formation

Imagine spending your entire life defending the faith...perhaps we aren't as faithful as we should be to the faith of our fathers, to the true faith passed, cherished and protected by the Holy Spirit? May the whole world have a such a flame of love for Christ to spend their lives living, defending and spreading the faith.

What stands out about St. Maximus's writings is his complete focus on Christ.

"...Having defended orthodox Christology against the heretics, he was thoroughly imbued with love for the Savior. He saw Christ not only as the meritorious cause of our salvation but also the exemplary cause, for which reason the great law of the Christian life is the imitation of Christ. By imitating Christ, the soul can achieve victory over the enemies of the spiritual life, the greatest of which is self-love. This involves a detachment from created things and one's own selfish desires so that egoistic love can be replaced by the love of God and neighbor."------pg. 56.

I'll be going all day on Tuesdays and visiting all the catholic residents, who I'd count to be about 75 total on 5 floors. That's a lot of people, so I expect to start offering prayers and sacrifices for them as well as developing a regular schedule to meet them at least once in the next month.

The cooking there is terrific! I can't gripe about this government food. Well, you know how comparisons get you in trouble, so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.

I had lots of great encouraging conversations and opportunities to hear the troubles where prayer is needed. So many sweet elderly people and plenty of good natured humor and grumpiness too. Look forward to going back next week. Great staff too...gosh, can this be that good? More human reality next week. May they be blessed with great care and holiness!

Here is a thumb size flower I found in the backyard adjoining with our neighbor's property. Hard to get these flowers to stand still while I get a shot. Much patience.

That said, I'm still adjusting to the expectations of the novitiate. I remember the difficulty of a 36 day silent retreat I took about 6 years ago. You are confronted with stuff you don't usually have to deal with, for example, boredom and loneliness. I'm not afraid of those feelings and they are natural human feelings, though they can be attacked by evil spirits of the same name. Of course the Eternal Father overlooks and allows temptations from evil spirits, so there is a lesson learned, hopefully and merit earned. Before we forget we are called the church militant, so there is a battle going on, whether we are conscience of it or not, believe it or not, or are honest enough to admit it. But for the novitiate, being the desert experience, in some regards, it is only natural to have to wrestle with boredom and loneliness. Now, as my religious brothers have advised, I've got a good schedule but it isn't quite the same without the usual human interaction. I have a great novice director, Fr. Eugene and my house brothers have been very hospitable and fun-loving since I've been here, but yet there is still me in a new place...the adjustment, the transition...loneliness.

I invite Our Lord and Lady into it of course, going deeper and looking for the source, in case there is something more there..recounting the other times of my life when I've been lonely. Thinking of my psych training...sitting with the feeling, not fearing it, sorta looking at it..studying it and talking to Jesus and Mary about it, as the drizzle of New York rain coat the blacktop outside with a glisten. I'm thinking of the New Testament passage yesterday in class about the calling of the twelve...Jesus says, "bring out to the deep..." Perhaps that is just what Jesus is calling me to do in my loneliness...calling me out into the deep. Go bravely into the darkness....where'd I hear that one?

I have class in 15 minutes....may Our Lord and Lady direct us all to be honest and brave, objective to our feelings and choose the good Will of the Father. Peace....

As a Mercedarian we consider Our Mother Mary, specifically Our Lady of Mercy, the heavenly founder of our religious order. The habit we wear is Hers, given to us through an apparition from our founder, St. Peter Nolasco. So it is all the more fitting that we have a statue of her at the front of our property in Le Roy, New York, known as Mercy Grove.

At the time of the important 1317 chapter, the white habit of Holy Mary had already been reddened by the blood of numerous martyrs. The best known are:

Raimundo de Blanes, protomartyr of the Order. He was beheaded in Granada in 1235; Diego de Soto, from Toledo, the second martyr of the Order, dies near Granada in 1237; Guillermo de San Leonardo and Raimundo de San Victor, two Frenchmen martyred in Mula (Murcia) in 1242; Fernando Perez fro Castile and Luis Blanch from Aragon were captured by pirates in 1250 and thrown into the sea with stones tied to their necks; in 1251 when he was sailing from Algiers, Fernando de Portalegre, a Castilian, as seized by Moslem pirates who hanged him from the ship's mast and shot him with arrows. His companion of redemption, Eleuterio de Platea was cruelly whipped and finally run through with a sword. Both bodies were thrown into the sea. Teobaldo of Narbonne, thrown alive in a bonfire, burned to death in Algiers in 253; Guillermo of Sagiano, an Italian, as stoned and burned alive in Algieers in 1270; Pedro Camin, a Frenchman, as martyred on the coast of Africa in 1284; Matias Marcos from Toulouse was hurled from the top of a tower of a castle in ruins in Tunis in 1293; Antonio Valecio from Liguria, a 60-year old redeemer was stoned to death by kids in Tunis in 1293; Luis Gallo stayed behind as hostage in Moroco and he was burned alive in 1268; Guillermo Novelli, also known as Florentine Guillermo because he was born in Florence, was martyred in Algiers in 1306; Pedro de San Hermes was cruelly martyred in Almeria in 1309; after achieving a redemption, two Catalans, Jaime and Adolfo, were both murdered and the captives were sent bck to their dungeons in Tunis in 1314; Alejandro from Siciliy was burned alive in front of the palace of King Muley Mahomet in order to entertain the people of Tunis in 1317.

Quite often, Moslems did not honor the safe-conducts that they themselves had issued. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Peter Nolasco and his brothers experienced in person and ahead of time the cruelties of what is now called Moslem fundamentalism.--------- The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy 1218-1992: A Historical Synthesis, pg. 59.

May the spirit of my redeeming brothers live on and be ever blessed and our order grow forever in the fervor of their martyrs blood for the love of Christ, His Mother and those in captivity! Long live the Mercedarians!

"In the religious life on the contrary one chooses to live each day at this level of deep and conscious and perpetual response. The religious as such is asked not to wait for a flash point or a crisis: he is committed at all times, every day, every moment of every day, to say a total 'Yes' to Jesus Christ. That is why religious life is traditionally aligned with martyrdom. The crisis of the martyr is his trial before before the public authorities when usually, in the court, the charge will not be that he is a Christian, but something more specious--that he is an atheist, a traitor to the state, a black-marketeer or some such thing--but in this crisis he must pierce through the camouflage and see what the issue really is, namely, his fidelity to Christ. Once again we state that what the martyr faces at the climax of his life the religious is asked to live, no doubt in a less dramatic way but nevertheless equally really, all the days of his life. ------------ A Biblical Approach to Religious Life by Sean B. Kelleher, C.Ss.R., pg. 46.

I think this is commonly known as the white martyrdom, compared to the red (blood) martyrdom. However, both are associated with a death to self and the white has more deaths than the red, so there may be a difference of which is more efficatious.

I also don't think this white martyrdom is only done by religious, though the idea may have been best developed there and certainly a true witness of that from centuries of devout and ascetic religious saints. Today, and I think as much as before God can make life itself a martyrdom. Christianity if it is truly lived has within it's cross plenty of travails of martyrdom. How else do you suppose to die to your own selfishness and do it Jesus's Way? The life of holiness is a life of white martyrdom.

My friends and family back home I love for all their dedication to the faith, who I know live a daily white martyrdom for truth, love and what is right. They love their faith and live it whole-heartedly. I take my example and inspiration from them, the living saints in my life!

Relationships, including the marriage, consecrated and just honest living in general, are white martyrdoms too. A saint said, "marriage is a constant mortification". Consecrated religious would say the same about living in community.

One of the highlights of my older brother's family visit to the monastery in Philadelphia was our visit to the Ukranian Catholic Cathedral which had a papally approved and blessed life-size photographic replica of the Shroud of Turin, the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. We receive a blessing by touching it, so that explains the picture. The Ukranian's are in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. From left to right is my brother Glenn, me, Mariko, and Yurie my sister-in-law.

I have class now...

"At the General Chapter held in 1247, in Taragona, Peter of Saint Denis, a French priest, and Bernardo de Pradas, a noble Catalan, were appointed redeemers. In that same year, both religious went to Tunis where they ransomed 209 captives. However, since they did not have the money to liberate others in great need of being redeemed, Brother Bernardo returned to Spain with the former captives while Brother Peter stayed behind in Africa to comfort the unfortunate and to avoid their renouncing their faith. he accomplished his mission with such enthusiasm and zeal that infuriated the Moslems arrested him, mistreated him and beating him through the whole city, they took him outside the walls and beheaded him. His body was thrown into a bonfire.